Member Comments

Alderin

"Fun variations"

The 'true' version is very pretty, coral reef-like though more colorful and peaceful. Manifold1 goes along the same track. Manifold2 takes a drastic turn, but ends up seeming "cliche evil" to me. Manifold3, on the other hand, makes me think more of an alien civilization, with city structures and power cores and creatures with a vastly different way of thinking than we have, which is far scarier than 'evil'.

Fri September 11, 2015 at 2:23 pm

Michael

"Version 1 png's are corrupt?"

Ryan,

The png files of manifold1 at 1440p and 2560 (i didn't check any others) are damaged such that seem to be missing the bottom 35%-40% of the image, when downloaded it shows up as a black area, and the previews are broken in the website.

Mon July 20, 2015 at 8:53 am

cmom

"psychologically satisfying."

I have this on my desktop, and it pleases me every time I look at it. The colors are nicely balenced between light and dark, reds and blues. If you glance at it you are immediately lost in the complexity of design. It is psychologically satisfying. :)

Fri July 17, 2015 at 9:20 pm

SergioM

"Now we're talking"

I must admit I wasn't impressed by your previous MandelBulb 3D creations, but this is just gorgeous. Well done!

Fri July 17, 2015 at 3:08 pm

Clayton

"Looks awesome!"

Looks awesome. I was about to select it as my new background for the week, but I've become addicted to the triple monitor renders. So may look around a bit more first.

Mon July 6, 2015 at 0:41 am

Kyle

"Nice!"

The design style is really nice. I feel like it may be a tad grainy on the focus point, but otherwise great pic! Always hope for a dualscreen 1080p! :)

Thu July 2, 2015 at 10:35 am

David

"Super Cool"

This would even look more impressive in pinks reds and purples

Wed July 1, 2015 at 12:30 pm

Larry

"Stunning"

Superb, truly beautiful imagery. I love the subtle color differences, exquisite detail and subtle shading effects. But the effort that truly catches my eye is the depth of field you have achieved. IMO, approaching one of your best. Thank you. I think I can speak for most members, when I say we appreciate your effort and the results of your hard work.

Tue June 23, 2015 at 6:42 am

Larry

"Stunning"

Superb, truly beautiful imagery. I love the subtle color differences, exquisite detail and subtle shading effects. But the effort that truly catches my eye is the depth of field you have achieved. IMO, approaching one of your best. Thank you. I think I can speak for most members, when I say we appreciate your effort and the results of your hard work.

Tue June 23, 2015 at 6:42 am

JMK in CT

"Love it"

Ive been trying for days to remember what this reminds me of and just now it came to me. It reminds me of a glass paper weight with those abstract designs in them. I hope you do more of these!

Mon June 22, 2015 at 6:13 am

John

"Nice"

I had commented on these before, saying I was intrigued, and with seeing the updated render, I am impressed. The newest render has a depth to it the others seemed to not have. I also sense more movement with the newest render and like it. It's up on my screen now.

Mon June 8, 2015 at 4:15 pm

Richard H.

"Noise fix? Multiscreens?"

@Ryan: You said: "I will see if I can mitigate some of the noise and still keep the overall effect."

Didn't you have any luck with that? (Or is it just taking ages to render?) Other than the 'noise' issue, this latest attempt seems near-perfect, so it'd be nice to see a final update address that one shortcoming. Also, there aren't any dual/triscreen renders of the final artwork, whereas there are of the earlier pickle jar versions, which seems a little odd!

Hope to see a final update to address these shortcomings, as this is such a pretty artwork. It's one of my favourites, actually.

Mon June 8, 2015 at 4:00 am

Daniel

"Are you sure it's not Coral?"

I saw this and thought -- ooh, coral reef ... You could throw some fish in and you'd have a perfect coral reef seen. Something for the pickle jar?

Fri June 5, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Daniel

"Are you sure it's not Coral?"

I saw this and thought -- ooh, coral reef ... You could throw some fish in and you'd have a perfect coral reef seen. Something for the pickle jar?

Fri June 5, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Jenanne

"You hit it out of the park"

Version four is the best of the bunch! I love the color scheme of this one. My second favorite is two, followed by one and then three. But I like them all. Great, Ryan!

Thu June 4, 2015 at 6:50 pm

Todd

"Yes this one is perfect...."

Can we get a multi screen of this one???

Thu June 4, 2015 at 12:57 pm

cmmnoble

"They are all so different!"

Each version comes across as a completely different image to me--all of them interesting in their own way. V1 is like something from a coral reef. V2 feels like some sort of vast alien machine. V3 is like a city organically built from volcanic ash. V4 evokes a colorful abstract sculpture. It's impossible for me to pick a favorite.

Wed June 3, 2015 at 11:08 am

Ryan

"@Richard re. noise"

Yes, I made a change to one fractal parameter (changing it from a negative number to a positive) and it changed the whole image really. The "noise" you see is actually each element "fading" at the edges into millions of copies of each other. It's more noticable at the higher resolution though.

I will see if I can mitigate some of the noise and still keep the overall effect.

Wed June 3, 2015 at 7:18 am

Richard H.

"Now we're talkin'…!"

Great! Lovely to see a return to the nice colour scheme. This new version is distinctly different in content, with much less of a 'woolly jumper' look. There's also a lot less yellow in the palette, and more blue, but overall the colour scheme works well. I still like the original as much as any, but this new one is just as good in its own way. This one rather makes me think of an underwater coral scene, really. Anyway, it's extremely nice; attractive colour scheme, good sense of depth, and better use of shadows this time (they make a more meaningful contribution here than they did before).

My only real criticism this time is that the new version seems very 'noisy'. It isn't apparent in the preview picture shown on the page here, but if you download the 5K version in particular, everything's got a fuzziness to it because of the noise. That wasn't the case in the original, where there was a lot of sharp detail, and it's rather a pity. But even so, I still really like today's new version. It's similar to the original but different. (Not better, though; just different!)

Wed June 3, 2015 at 3:52 am

JDD

"3 different but the same"

strange how the exact same object can evoke so many different feelings by just a color change.

I guess the first colorful one appeals to me the most.

The others are a bit gloomy for a spring/summer wallpaper

Tue June 2, 2015 at 10:54 am

Zach

"Colours and dual 16:10"

I am in agreement that I really preferred the colourful first version, but these newer versions are neat too! The thing I don't see is the 3840x1200 (dual 16:10). Is that resolution not going to be uploaded any longer, and we need to just crop from the 5120x1600 or stretch the 3840x1080?

Thanks, Ryan!

Cheers,

Zach

Tue June 2, 2015 at 10:29 am

Jim S.

"It looks menacing."

It looks like some sort of very alien landscape.

Tue June 2, 2015 at 9:38 am

Richard H.

"Colour version still by far the best"

OK, the new grey versions are better than the really dark one in that you can see more interesting detail… but, oh dear, how dismal and dreary they are! I'm almost sorry to see that you've spent time creating two- and three-screen versions of the grey, because that presumably means that this is going to be the final version, and it seems such a missed opportunity to me.

I'm sorry, but the grey versions (despite the little orange pinpricks) are just dull and boring to me. They look as though a volcano has erupted all over a mountainside and left everything blanketed in a depressing layer of grey ash. Or, on a smaller scale, they look as though a vacuum cleaner has been set to blow rather than suck, and has coated a woolly jumper with a layer of horrible muck!

Yet the original colour version was *so* lovely! I wish you'd simply revert to that and do the dual- and triple-screen versions of that render instead. These dark and reduced-colour versions just aren't working for me at all, especially when the abandoned original was so extremely nice.

Sorry!

Tue June 2, 2015 at 5:27 am

mike g

"pickle jar FTW"

love the orange/blue one ... maybe a couple more variations of that render with other complementary color pairs?

Mon June 1, 2015 at 8:49 pm

John

"Intrigued"

After looking at all three, I have some opinions. The color version had me thinking of candy. The dark one evoked a mood best not explored and the grey one had me thinking of Mt. St. Helens, in Washington state. That grey is so bleak and almost desolate. However, the color indicates that there's a possibility of life. The fuzzy texture of all three was consistent, which helped and contributed to the overall emotion of all three renderings. I am going to give them a day before looking at them again.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 6:28 pm

Ryan

"v.3"

This third version has the detail of the first but the monochrome look of the second.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 5:51 pm

CHSpera

"Very Grainy"

the "night" version could work, but its very grainy and difficult to see what's going on in the rest of the image.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 1:14 pm

0beron

"Lighter one better"

The original lighter one is better, much better sense of depth.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 11:46 am

Richard H.

"Love the PJ; don't care for the main"

I find myself in complete agreement with the other posters so far: I *LOVE* the colourful original that you've sadly consigned to the pickle jar, but I really don't care for the dark new one at all.

The dark one really doesn't seem to have anything much about it; the colour scheme is dull, the details vanish in the dreary depths, and it doesn't make me think of anything, It's just 'there'.

But the original… it seems such a shame that you've demoted it, because it's vastly the superior of the two in my eyes. For one thing, I love the cheerful red/yellow/blue colour scheme. For another, its brightness makes its details really clear, and it has a good sense of depth. Finally (and this is a very subjective view), it has a nice, friendly feeling to it: it reminds me of a warm and comfortable old jumper! It's like looking at a close-up detail of a really complicated knitted sweater, of the colourful, patterned sort that are really hard to buy these days but that I really like!

So a pretty big thumbs-down for the new 'main' picture, but a resounding recommendation for the colourful original that you apparently don't care for! Sorry about that, but there you are. If I were you, I'd swap them round so that the colourful one's the main picture again and the dreary dark one's in the pickle jar for those people who happen to like it.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 11:08 am

Brandi U.

"Much prefer the Colorful version"

The colorful version has more depth and feels like it has more detail. The dark is too dark and loses the beauty of the fractal. Normally, I'm all over dark wallpapers, but not this one.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 10:53 am

Kyle

"Refreshing"

I'm really loving the colorful version. It's a nice change from some of your other work.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 10:50 am

Sanalith

"Lovely!"

I'm not a fan of abstracts in general, but the colors on this one really drew me in. I'm personally not a fan of the darker version, but the original is stunning!

Mon June 1, 2015 at 9:05 am

Ryan

"Re: Manifold 2"

I've posted a darker version this morning. Let me know which you prefer!

Mon June 1, 2015 at 8:31 am

jmk in ct

"groovy"

I really like this one. there is something organic about it. love the colors.

Mon June 1, 2015 at 8:17 am

Miles

"Absolutely astounding. "

Now this, is the reason why I'm a member. I love the precise detail and the contrast in the colours. More More More!!

Mon June 1, 2015 at 4:29 am

Inquisidor

"Electron microscope"

Love it! Have you ever seen electron microsopy? This render seems like that. Nice one.